Game Report

Coming off a difficult loss at the hands of the Syracuse Crunch, the Belleville Senators got right back to work when they visited the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The Senators played the Crunch tight last night, but did not get the desired result, they were undoubtedly looking to get back in the win column.

The first period was played at a good pace. The teams were very physical in the early going. Belleville outplayed the Phantoms in the first period, out-shooting them 14-4, but it was Lehigh Valley who opened the scoring. Greg Carey beat Marcus Hogberg for his 30th of the season, to give the Senators an early lead. Belleville played a good period, but after one period of play, they trailed the Phantoms 1-0.

In the second period, the Phantoms took over. They scored a pair in the period to take a commanding three-goal lead. The first goal came on a power play, it was Colin McDonald with a goal that Hogberg definitely wanted back. Later in the frame, with just six seconds remaining, Mike Vecchione beat Hogberg with a nice wrist shot off the rush. After Dustin Tokarski had a marvelous opening period, Hogberg had himself a solid period but his team still trailed 3-0 after two periods.

In the third period Belleville made a goalie change. Filip Gustavsson replaced Hogberg and the Senators came out strong in the third. First it was Jordan Murray wiring a wrist shot past Tokarski off the rush to get Belleville on the board. Just over two minutes later, Jack Rodewald‘s persistence paid off as he kept banging away in front of Tokarski and his third attempt found the back of the net to make it 3-2 with 10:37 remaining.

But that was as close as Belleville got as they dropped this one 4-2 after an empty-netter from Cole Bardreau. To make matters worse, Belleville lost Ben Sexton in this one, he left the game after the Murray goal. He collided awkwardly with McDonald as the Senators turned the puck up the ice and he laid motionless on the ice for a few moments before being helped off the ice.

Belleville showed some resilience in the third period but ultimately, they could not overcome a strong effort from Lehigh Valley. Belleville gets back to work Wednesday when they host the Springfield Thunderbirds.

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